


The Crow, the Owl and the Dove

by thehaikubandit



Series: Memento Mori (Friendship is Keay) [4]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: But he's trying, It uh, bless him, gerry starts to try and make friends, look he's not very experienced at socialising with people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:54:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23259487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehaikubandit/pseuds/thehaikubandit
Summary: One ghost possessing an Archivist and one grieving staff member have some tea and chat about animals. It doesn't go too badly?
Series: Memento Mori (Friendship is Keay) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1647388
Comments: 27
Kudos: 165





	The Crow, the Owl and the Dove

Gerry didn’t know how he was meant to run the Archives when two of the staff wouldn’t talk to him. Martin couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact, and Melanie, well… Melanie was angry. He contented himself with the knowledge that this would make the Eye’s goals harder to achieve. There was something to be said for inefficiency.

Basira spoke to him if he initiated a conversation, so that was something. She’d come back to work shortly before he had, grieving and distant. She was rarely seen without a book in her hand. Gerry felt like he should comfort her somehow. But even Jon hadn’t been that close to her, let alone a stranger in Jon’s body.

He saw her in her usual chair when he went to get himself a coffee, desperate to fight the exhaustion that came with not wanting to sleep in the Archives.

“Would you like some coffee? Tea? A biscuit?”

He winced. That was… far needier than he’d meant it to sound.

“Tea would be nice,” said Basira, not looking up from her reading. “Milk, no sugar.”

“Cool,” he said, fleeing to the kitchen.

Desperate for human interaction, he planned his next sentence as he made the drinks. 

“So,” he said, placing Basira’s tea on her desk. “How’s the book?”

Look, it was _a_ sentence, not a good one.

“It’s alright.” She turned the page and continued to read.

“What’s it on?”

“Animal transformation.”

“...huh.”

“I need something to do, and it seemed slightly related to the statement you recorded on Tuesday.”

“Right, yeah. So, what’s it got to say?”

She finally looked up from the book and picked up the tea to take a sip.

“Well,” she said. “It suggests you can only transform into a ‘reflection of your true soul’. Which is the part that seems different to the statement.”

“Unless that triad member was uh, really, _really_ soft like a dormouse on the inside?”

“Exactly. Which doesn’t sound… likely… from his record. But I guess people can surprise you. I mean you of all people should know better than to judge someone by their body.”

Gerry snorted with laughter.

“Was that a possession joke?”

“Oh, are we not allowed to mention it?”

“No, that’s brilliant. I’m sorry, you just kept way too straight a face during that.”

“I’ve never had a straight face.”

“You’re wonderful,” he told her. “You’re my favourite.”

“Well,” said Basira. “It’s not like anyone else is speaking to you.”

He stopped smiling at that.

“Fair point.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” said Gerry. In a desperate attempt to diffuse the tension he asked, “So what would you be?”

“What?”

“What animal? You know… if you have to be...”

“Right.”

Basira sipped her tea, face deep in thought. Gerry wasn’t sure whether or not to leave her or to wait. Just as he was about to tell her not to worry and leave, she answered.

“An owl.”

“Nice,” said Gerry. “I guess I can see that?”

“Oh?”

“Well, you’re smart, and they have the whole wisdom thing, but they’re birds of prey. People forget that.”

“Something like that.”

“Also being able to fly would be cool as shit, who wouldn’t want to be able to fly?”

“So, you’d be a bird then?”

“I...”

It was Gerry’s turn to pause.

“Or a bat,” continued Basira, interrupting his train of thought. “What with the whole goth thing.”

He pulled a face.

“Nah,” said Gerry. “I’ll go with a raven.”

“That’s not any less of a cliché.”

“Maybe not,” he said. “But they eat eyes, and at the moment that sounds like the right kind of petty. Especially if I was anywhere near Elias...”

This finally got a smile out of her, albeit a small one.

“You’re alright, Gerard Keay,” she told him, before returning to her book.

Gerry paused and took a breath.

“Gerry,” he said.

“I’m sorry?”

“Gerry, not Gerard. I...” he trailed off, unsure how to explain everything he felt when he heard the name Gerard.

“Right,” said Basira, not looking up. “Gerry. Noted.”

The sound of someone saying his name kept him going for weeks.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who's enjoying this, we're so happy you like this little au. Life is tough at the moment and we're going to try and update with a new fic weekly (allowing for the fact of work and chaos). This series is pretty much a sappy, silly, romance and you're going to slowly see that. We feel that everyone could use some sappy, silly stuff right now. Stay safe, keep commenting and look after yourselves. You're all amazing <3
> 
> Title credit to Gier because he found an excellent metal song as always and finally gave us a name that wasn't "that Basira fursona fic"
> 
> Updated with minor changes because Space is brilliant and is editing all of these <3


End file.
